Latest films - including new 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' - restoring franchise to '68 glory

Thursday

Jul 10, 2014 at 12:01 AMJul 10, 2014 at 9:31 AM

It took 38 years and a 2001 dud of a remake, but apes are regaining their dominance, cinematically speaking. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - a sequel to the successful Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), itself an adaptation of aspects of the original five-film franchise (1968-73) - will open in theaters nationwide beginning tonight.

It took 38 years and a 2001 dud of a remake, but apes are regaining their dominance, cinematically speaking.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes — a sequel to the successful Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), itself an adaptation of aspects of the original five-film franchise (1968-73) — will open in theaters nationwide beginning tonight.

“This one looks great. The apes look super-cool,” said Jason Williams, the 40-year-old owner of Big Fun Toy Store in the Short North and a fan of the films.

“Not always, but usually second ones are better than first movies.”

The original Apes series, produced by Arthur Jacobs, drew a loyal following at the box office and spawned two short-lived TV series — and largely disappeared until the 21st century.

In 2001, a Tim Burton remake of the first Jacobs film fell flat — failing to kick off the sequels that were expected to follow.

But the newest franchise, more reboot than remake, is showing greater promise:

• To date, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, starring James Franco and Andy Serkis, has grossed $481?m illion worldwide at the box office.

• Its $120 million sequel has drawn early critical acclaim, garnering a 98 percent “certified fresh” rating (based on 43 reviews) on the website Rotten Tomatoes.

• 20th Century Fox, the longtime owner of the rights to all things Apes, cleared the way six months ago for a third film in the series — due in the summer of 2016.

The latest series is shaping up to be “a worthy successor” to its predecessor, said Jared Gardner, the director of pop-culture studies and a professor of English and film studies at Ohio State University.

Set a decade after Rise, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens with ape leader Caesar (Serkis, best-known as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) working to maintain a fragile peace between the apes and humans. A virus has wiped out much of the human population; and, with the two sides battling for control of the planet, war seems inevitable.

That humans are attracted to a futuristic world in which apes rule doesn’t surprise Gardner.

The story, he said, represents an “allegorical commentary of the failure of humans as stewards of the planet” — one that offers this food for thought: “Maybe humanity didn’t deserve the Earth."

What made the original series work so well and what’s making the new series successful, Gardner said, is timing: Both were made during a period of “American vulnerability” and “unseen enemies."

The original films touched on fears of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War. And, nowadays, the public consciousness is focused on a post-9/11 world, with a host of threats haunting us from day to day.

Under such circumstances, Gardner said, pop culture can be therapeutic.

“There’s a real appetite for kind of working through some of the visions, these fears, these fantasies of the end of the human race. We read these stories; we watch these movies — not to give us nightmares but to work through them.”

Burton’s Apes remake, starring Mark Wahlberg, proved less successful, Gardner suggested, because the world was too calm in those pre-9/11 days.

Also hindering the film, said Kevin Carr, a Dublin resident who reviews movies on the blog www.fatguysatthemovies.com, is its emphasis on star power and special effects over character and plot.

The new series is loosely based on the original films; it doesn’t merely mimic them.

Rise most closely resembles Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), the fourth movie in the original series — as both detail the origin of the ape rebellion led by Caesar.

But the new franchise is also setting itself apart from the old one, Carr said.

“It’s going on an original path, and I think we need that.”

Rise and Dawn make use of computer-generated imagery to portray the apes, whereas all the previous films feature actors in primitive-looking ape suits.

Such technological advances can help moviegoers better appreciate the vision of the 1968 novel that inspired all the Apes films: In Pierre Boulle’s La Planete des Singes — which centers on three human explorers who visit a planet where apes are the dominant life-form — the apes are scientifically advanced.

Brian Walton of Pickerington, though, is among the Apes fans who prefer old to new.

“I liked the apes better when it was people in suits playing them,” said Walton, 45.

He recalls watching the 1968 original, starring Charlton Heston, as well as he recalls the nightmares that followed.

“I remember my mom scolding my dad for letting me watch it.”

In the new series, Gardner said, Serkis — who has made a career out of motion-capture roles — gives a “breathtaking and convincing” performance as Caesar, a chimp whose advanced intelligence results from genetic testing.

The effort is so good that viewers might find themselves rooting for Caesar and his ape companions, even when that means the end of the human race as we know it.

“The identification with Caesar as the one who deserves to succeed more than his human adversaries . . . is tricky,” Gardner said.

Yet moviegoers, he said , would merely be projecting onto Caesar the human virtues that we want to see triumph: bravery, integrity, intelligence, empathy and justice.

Carr, the film blogger, said that, with age, he has come to better appreciate these and other issues addressed in the film.

“I don’t think I understood the nuances of the themes because I was 14 or so (when he first watched the movies),” he said.

“It’s one of these classic stories that doesn’t die.”

elagatta@dispatch.com

@EricLagatta

Through the years - A Planet of the Apes history:

• 1963: French novelist Pierre Boulle writes La Planete des Singes (Planet of the Apes), a novel about three human explorers who visit a planet with apes as the dominant life-form, only to discover — spoiler alert! — they have reached a future Earth.

• April 3, 1968: Arthur P. Jacobs releases Planet of the Apes, a film based on the Boulle novel and starring Charlton Heston. Jacobs would go on to produce four more Apes movies through 1973: Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). The films detail how apes developed intelligence and led a revolt against humans.

• 1973: After the death of Jacobs, his production company, APJAC Productions, sells the franchise rights to 20th Century Fox.

• Sept. 13, 1974: Planet of the Apes, a TV series, begins airing on CBS but is canceled before the season ends because of low ratings. Set about 900 years before the original film, it centers on a civilization with dominant apes but humans who still speak. (All 14 episodes were later packaged in a DVD set.)

• Sept. 6, 1975: The animated TV series Return to the Planet of the Apes makes its debut on NBC. The show — which more closely resembles the novel, in that its ape society is more advanced — is criticized for poor-quality animation and voice-over work. Thirteen episodes would be shown through Sept. 4, 1976.

• 2001: The original Planet of the Apes — deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” — is selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

• July 27, 2001: 20th Century Fox releases Planet of the Apes, a remake directed by Tim Burton and starring Helena Bonham Carter, Paul Giamatti, Tim Roth and Mark Wahlberg. The film proves to be a financial success but draws mixed reviews from critics.

• Aug. 5, 2011: To critical acclaim, 20th Century Fox releases Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a reboot series directed by Rupert Wyatt and starring James Franco and Andy Serkis. Most closely mirroring Conquest, the film follows Caesar — an ape who is the product of genetic testing — as he begins to plot an ape rebellion. The film uses computer-generated imagery to portray the apes instead of actors in costumes (which was previously the standard).

• Jan. 7, 2014: With a widely anticipated sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes scheduled for the summer, 20th Century Fox announces an untitled third film in the franchise for release on July?29, 2016.

• Today: 20th Century Fox releases Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, set 10 years after Rise of the Planet of the Apes as a war between humans and apes seems increasingly likely. The film — directed by Matt Reeves — stars Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke and Keri Russell.